Central Michigan University gives update on College of Medicine at Thursday meeting

(CORRECTED VERSION) Central Michigan University trustees approved Thursday the authorization of building projects for the first phase of the College of Medicine East Campus project.

The unanimous vote will allow CMU to authorize contracting for planning, construction, furnishing and equipping of the CMED East Campus building.

The East Campus, approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, has two locations – one at Covenant HealthCare and one at St. Mary’s of Michigan, both of which are located in Saginaw.

“When we came to you in May for a memorandum of understanding, I elaborated to this board that the original project for Saginaw was a larger project,” CMU President George Ross said. “We have sense revisited it, and we’ve broken this project up into phases.”

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Ross said CMU would only move to phase two if all the numbers work out.

Though the board authorized a memorandum of understanding at its May board meeting, it still needs formal approval of the board to proceed with construction, Ross said.

“We’ve requested of this board an additional $350,000 to continue, and actually conclude, planning for the College of Medicine East Campus,” Ross had said in May. “This puts us in a position to get documents ready to get the project (going).”

Students will spend their first two years of the medical program learning at Mt. Pleasant’s West Campus facility, and will spend their third and fourth years in Saginaw for clinical experience.

Between the two Saginaw locations, between 120,000 and 130,000 square feet of new and renovated space will be available for students.

The space will be used for both clinical space and medical education, Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management, has said in the past.

The East Campus residency programs were granted five-year institutional accreditation in June of last year.

Trustees also received updates on CMED applicant demographics.

Right now, 1,111 students have applied to become part of the 2014 entering class. At this time last year, only 400 had applied.

CMU received 2,765 applicants for its inaugural class. Sixty-four were admitted.